103. Witches' Transformations Into Animals Authors(s): M. A. Murray Source: Man, Vol. 18 (Dec., 1918), pp. 188-191 Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2788515 Accessed: 30-03-2016 03:33 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Wiley are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Man http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 136.186.1.81 on Wed, 30 Mar 2016 03:33:42 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms This content downloaded from 136.186.1.81 on Wed, 30 Mar 2016 03:33:42 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Dec., 1918.] MAN. [No. 103. would seem, then, that the witchles, like the adorers of animal gods in earlier times, attempted to become one with their god or sacred animnal by taking on bis form; the change being induced by the same means and being as real to the witch as to Sigmund the Volsung* or the worshipper of Lyceean Zeus.t In the earlier cults the worshipper on becoming an animal changed his outward shiape only to the eyes of faith, though his actions anid probably his voice proclaimed the transformation. The nearest approach to an outward change was by covering the body with the skin of the animal, or by wearing a part of the skin or a mask. The Aberdeen witches (1597) are a good example of the change which was not visible outwardly. In all the cases, the accused are stated to have "come to " the Fish Cross of this burgh, under the conduct of Sathait, present then with you, " playing on his form of instrument, ye all danced about the Fish Cross and about " the Meal-market a long space." There is no suggestion of any change of form except in the case of Bessie Thom, who was tried at the same time and for exactly the same offence as her comrades: "There, accompanied with thy devilish com- " panions and faction, transformed in other likeness, some in hares, some in cats, " and some in other similitudes, ye all danced about the Fisb Cross."I The evidence of Marie Lamont (1662) suggests the same idea of a ritual, though not an actual, change ; she confessed that "'shee, Kettie Scot, and Margrat Holm, cam to Allan " Orr's house in the likenesse of kats, and followed his wif Into the chalmer "; on another occasion " the devil turned them in likeness of kats, by shaking his hands " above their heads."? In Northumberland (1673) the same fact appears to underlie the evidewce; Ann Armstrong declared that at a witch meeting "the said Ann " [Baites] hath been severall times in the shape of a catt and a hare. and in " the shape of a greyhound and a bee, letting the devill see how many shapes " she could turn,herself into. They [the witches] stood all upon a bare spott of ground, and bad this informer sing whiles they dainced in severall shapes, first of a hare, then in their owne, and then in a catt, sometimes in a mouse, and in severall other shapes. She see all the said persons beforementioned dancing, some in the likenesse of hares, some in the likenesse of catts, others in the likenesse of bees, and some in their owne likenesse."Il The method of making the ritual change by means of magical words is very clearly recorded in the Auldearne trials, where Isobel Gowdie, whose evidence was purely voluntary, gives the actual words both for the change into an animaf and for the reversion into human form. To becomiie a hare: " I sall goe intill a haire, With sorrow and sych and meikle caire, And I sall goe in the Divellis nam, Ay quhill I com hom againe." To become a cat or a crow the same verse was used wit)i an alteration of the second line so as to force a rhyme ; instead of "meikle care," the words were "a * TVolsunga Saga, Books I, II; Wm. Morris: Collected Works, XII, pp. 32, 77. t Pausanias, VIII, 2, 3, 6, ed. Frazer. Op. also the animal names applied to priests and priestesses, e.g., the King-bees at Ephesus; the Bee-priestesses of Demeter, of Delphi, of Proserpine, and of the Great Mother; the Doves of Dodona; the Bears in the sacred dance of Artemis; the Bulls at the feast of Poseidon at Ephesus; the Wolves at the Lupercalia, &c. J Spalding Club M11iscellany, I, pp. 97-8, 114-15, 165; Bessie Thorn, p. 167. Spelling modernised. ? Sharpe: Histofcal Account, pp. 133, 134. " Depositions from York Castle." Denla?n Tracts, II, pp. 299, 301, 304. [ 189 j This content downloaded from 136.186.1.81 on Wed, 30 Mar 2016 03:33:42 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms No. 103.1 MAN. [Dec., 1918. black shot" for a cat, and "a black thraw " for a crow or craw. To revert again to the human form the words were: "Hare, hare, God send thee care, I am in an hare's likeness just now, But I shall be in a woman's likeness even now," with the same variation of "a black shot " or "a black thraw " for a cat or a crow. The Auldearne witches were also able to turn one another into animals: "If we, in the shape of an cat, an crow, an hare, or any other likeness, &c., go to any of our neighbours houses, being Witches, we will say, I (or we) conjure thee Go with us (or me). And presently they become as we are, either cats, hares, crows, &c., and go with us whither we would.-When one of us or more are in the shape of cats, and meet with any others our neighbours. we will say. Devil speed thee, Go thoii with me. And immediately they will turn in the shape of a cat, and go with us."* The very simplicity of the method shows that the transformation was ritual ; the witch announced to her fellow that sbe herself was an animal, a fact which tlle second witch would not have known otherwise. The second witch at once became a similar animal and went with the first to perform the ritual acts which were to follow. The witches were, in their owni estimationi and in the belief of all their comrades, to whom they communicated the fact, actually animals, though to the uninitiated eye their natural forms reinained unchanged. The French witches wore the skin or a portion of an animal in the sacred dance. In Lorraille (1589) Bernhardt's Nicolwa stated that she had seen in an open field "'mitten am hellen Tage, einen Tanz von Mainnern und Weibern, und weil " dieselben auff eine besondere Weise und hinterriicks tanzten, kam es ihr frembd fur " Stunde derhalben still, und sahe mittallem Fleiss zu da ward sie gewahr, das " etliche in dem Reyhen waren so Geiss und Kuhfuss hatten."t In the Lyons district (1598) "il y a encor des Demons, qui assisteut a ces " dances en forme de boucs ou de moutons. Antoine Tornier dit que lors qu'elle " daiisoit, vn mouton noir la tenoit par la main auec ses pieds bien haireux, c'est a " dire rudes & reuesches."t Ritual masking will also account for the transformation into animals. In Lorraine (1589) a man-witness stated that "indem wird er eine Hole, welche sie nennen die " Morelianische Klippe, gewalhr, darinnen sechs Weiber mit Larven umb ein Tisch " mit guldenen und silbernen Geschieren herumb tanzten."? Boguet also had evidence of the wearing of masks: "Ils se masquent pour le iourd'huy, selon Claude Paget. " & auec elle plusieurs autres.-Ils se masquent encor auiourd'huy pour la plus part. Estienne Poicheux rapportoit que partie des femmes, qu'elle auoit veues au " Sabbat estoient voilees. Et pour cela les Lombards par leurs loix les appellent 'Mascas."l Barbe, the wife of Jean-Remy Colin de Moyement in Lorraine (1613) said that " elle a veu dancer les assistans en nonebre de sept a huict personnes, parties " desquelles elle ne cognoissoit ad cause des masques hideuix."1 The masking and disguising of the witch is probably the explanation of the evidence given by the bov-witch, Arnold von Holthauss, at Miinster (1644): "Arnold wollte auf dem " Tanzplatze Hasen, Katzen, Matise, Schweine, Wlffe, usw. verfertigt haben."11 There is also another method of transformation, which is the simplest. The witches themselves, like their contemporaries, believed that the actual animals, which they saw, were human beings in animal form. Jeannette de Belloc, aged twenty-four * Pitcairn Criminal Trials, 1II, pp. 607, 608, 611. Spelling modernised. t Remigius: Demonolatria, Pt. 1, ch. xiv, p. 67. 4 Boguet: Discours des Sorciers, p. 132. ? Remigius: Pt. I, p. 65. Boguet, pp. 120, 133. ? Fournier: I4piddmie de Sorcellerie, p. 16. ** Iuiuborg: Hexenprozesse, p. 59. r 190 ] This content downloaded from 136.186.1.81 on Wed, 30 Mar 2016 03:33:42 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Dec., 1918.1 MAN. [Nos. 103-104. in the Pays dle Labourd (1609), described the Sabbath as "vne foire celebre de " toutes sortes de choses, en laquelle aucuns se promenet en leur propre forme, & " d'autres sont transformez ne s9ayt pourquoy en animaux. Ella n'a iamais veu aucune d'elles se trasformer en beste en sa presence, mais seriement certaines bestes courir par le Sabbat."* Helen Guthrie, of Forfar (1661), states the case with even greater simplicity "The last summer except onie, shee did sie John Tailzeour somtymes in the shape of a todde, and sointvmes in the shape of a swyn, and that " the said John Tailzeour in these shapes wenit up and doune among William Millne, miller at Hetherstakes, his cornes for the destruction of the same, because the said " WilliaTn hade taken the mylne ouer his head; and that the diuell cam to her qnd pointed out John Tailzeour in the forsaid shapes unto her, anid told her that that " wes John Tailzeour."t REVIEW. Europe: Geography. Fleure. Human Geography in Western Europe. Bly H. J. Fleure. London: 4 nl Williams and Norgate. 8vo., pp. vii and 263. US This book is a geographical study of, from the standpoinit of the interaction of man and circumstance, an appreciation of the genius loci,. of the humani groups of Western Europe. The author distinguishes three main zones in accordance with the response of the soil to human effort. The central core of the great European highlands to a large extenit refuses sensible increment even to prolonged effort, and is, therefore, termed a Region of Difficulty. The southward slopes to the Mediter- ranean lhave a favourinig climate yielding an early response and a steady moderate return to effort, allowing of a certain amount of leisure and opportunities for inter- communication. These are termed Regions of Increment; they have been characterised by a development of spirituality, and have contributed to the world flowerings of aesthetic appreciation and ideals of social conduct and practical life. The portions of the northern temperate forest bordering on grass lands needed much hard work before they were converted into farm and cornland. Efort was the dominant note, though the ultimate increment was often large. These areas are termed a Region or Zone of Effort. The more northern forests on the arctic frinige remain reg,ions of difficulty. While civic ideals and art could develop in the zonie of incremenit the regions of effort progressed more slowly. The war againist the forest encouraged co-operation and the growth of village communities, with, however, the limitation of being self-centered and suspicious of the outer world; these regions thus being unsuited for the spread of idealisms. The regions of difficulty have continued from early times with the old activities of stock raising, lumbering, and huiiting. They lhave always tended to export men. These regions of difficulty have been gradually invaded from the region of effort, the change being often accompanied by the spread of a broad-headed population, and the retreat of a long-headed population which has shown an attachment to an adventurous life. The greatest advances have come in regions of contact where there is considerable racial admixture. Dr. Fleure traces these lines of contact in each of the main areas of the West, showing the results of contact with the older Mediterranean eivilisacioii, whether across land routes or as a result of coastal traffic. He discusses the meaning of nationality at the present day as contrasted with the past, conieluding that racial unity is. if possible, a disadvantage. The territorial principle, unity of religion, custom, and language all help, btit there is no sine qua non, no absolute criterion of nation- * De La-nere: Tableau, p. 129. t Kinloch and Baxter: Reliquiw Antiquez S'otice, p, 123, [ 191 3 This content downloaded from 136.186.1.81 on Wed, 30 Mar 2016 03:33:42 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
